Lead Exposure in Children's Clothing

Yes. You read that correctly. I did say Lead Exposure from Children's Clothing. And if you are like me and have a child with an unconscious habit of chewing on the sleeves of her clothes then you may be freaking out right now. How could this be possible? How does something as dangerous as potentially lead laden children's clothing get on the racks? And why would a buyer for a store purchase an item like this to be marketed?

To my dear friend, Melissa, I say "THANK YOU!" She called me immediately after she made a shocking discovery in the aisles of a local discount store. She knew she had to tell someone and she is spreading the word to everyone she meets. She called me, knowing that, one, I would be shocked and, two, I have a platform to reach moms who are looking for deals and may be ready to purchase these inexpensive items unaware of the possible threat to their child's health!

First, a question: When purchasing clothing how often do you look at the inside tags? I have to admit that when I am searching tags it is usually the cardboard tags on the outside of clothing. The only time I would check a tag on the inside of a garment would be if I wanted to double check the size or check the washing instructions. I would say that that is only ten percent (or less!) of the time though. The majority of the time all the information I care about is printed on the outer cardboard tag (that's size and price). Am I the only one? I don't think so. Everyone I've talked to has said that they rarely check the inner tags of the clothing that their kids wear. That's one of the reasons Melissa's find is that much more incredible and a MUST share for anyone who is purchasing children's clothing.

So that you know:

Here is what the CDC has to say about lead exposure. According the Mayo Clinic the following are symptoms of increased exposure to lead:

I spent about 20 minutes this morning perusing the racks at Rose's Department Store a chain discount store in our area that began in North Carolina and has expanded to many of the Eastern United States. What I found there was disturbing. With Melissa's help I combed through clothing inspecting each tag. We found that clothing bearing the "2B Real" label was suspect, particularly, the items with that label that were manufactured in China. A quick search of the Internet showed that 2B Real clothing can also be purchased online. (Some of the 2B Real clothes were made in other far off lands like the Philippines and Malaysia--those clothes did not have a warning tag).

Here is exactly what I mean:

double check tags on 2B REAL clothing made in China!

click photo to enlarge

In the following photo I am showing two dresses side by side: Both made in China. Both have the 2B REAL tag. Both have a very similar style. One is a size 5/6. The other is a size 4T. One of them has a Lead Warning Tag. One of them does not. Can you tell which one does and which doesn't?

The dress on the left is "safe". The dress on the right "may contain lead".

Would you feel safe buying either?

A Call to Action!

Please share this information with your friends and family. The more people that can see and hear this message the better. Post our link on your Facebook page. Share the link on Twitter. View and share the video on YouTube.

I am including a link to the web page at Variety Wholesaler's Inc, the parent company of Rose's and other discount stores. You can find contact information on that website. Please consider voicing your concerns about this highly questionable merchandise. I will be joining you!

I decided to include a video (please excuse my overuse of the word "um" and my mediocre video making skills). My intent was to give you as many different options for sharing that I could.

I can't un-see those tags and un-know what I know now and that is why I had to share with all of you!